1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to furniture and furnishings for baby nurseries and child bedrooms. The present invention relates more specifically to a rail and ramp system for attachment to a child's crib or bed that allows intended movement by the child to and from the crib or bed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Growing children progress rapidly through the use of a sequence of furniture and furnishings designed to provide a safe and comfortable sleeping environment for the child. A baby might initially be provided with a cradle as a sleeping environment when little or no movement of the child is anticipated during the night. Very quickly, however, the child graduates into a crib as a sleeping environment before eventually moving into a child or adult sized bed. The time period over which a child might utilize a crib can vary greatly depending upon the activity level of the child. Some children remain relatively docile, with limited movement, well past the age of two. Other children, however, become quite mobile and active as early as one year old, to the extent that a standard crib environment no longer comfortably or safely accommodates them.
Many crib manufacturers recommend that at a certain age one side of the crib be either removed or lowered as the structure of the crib might accommodate. Many cribs incorporate sliding side rails that allow the side to be lowered, either temporarily for intermittent movement in and out of the crib, or permanently as the child's age and activity level might merit. Some manufacturers recommend removing the sliding front panel when the child becomes mobile enough to get his or her arms fully over the top of the panel. The reasoning behind this recommendation is that even if the child falls from the crib, it is better to fall from mattress height than to have the child scale the front panel and fall from the panel height. Unfortunately, the simple raising or lowering of a side rail does not always accommodate the needs of many children who are active at a very young age. In addition, the lowered side rail, for many cribs, often provides inadequate side rail protection for the child when sleeping at night. All too often the height above the mattress is either too high for the child to easily access the crib when awake, or too low, such that the child might roll out from the crib while sleeping at night.
Some effort has been made in the past to provide for an intermediate solution to the problem of a young but active child in a crib sleeping environment. These efforts have generally been directed at providing for removable rails that could be positioned on the side of the crib in association with the mattress, or in some cases on the side of a child's bed in association with the mattress. In general, however, these mattress stabilized rail systems have either been too short or too long for a particular crib, i.e. they either extend beyond the posts of the crib or leave a significant and often unsafe opening in the side. In addition, these temporary and removable side rails fail to address the problem of providing easy access to the bed by the child who may be very mobile, but still not very tall, while at the same time providing for the safe containment of the child during sleep. Some of these efforts in the past include the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,781,945, issued to Scherer et al. entitled Portable Foldable Bed Rail. This patent describes a rail with two legs intended to be slid underneath the mattress and to hingedly support an oblong rail with hinged, collapsible end sections. The patent does not, however, address the concerns associated with variations in the height of the child, and facilitating movement in and out of the crib or bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,756, issued to Nowak et al. entitled Portable Bed Rail. This patent likewise describes a rail system that includes a pair of legs hingedly attached to the rail barrier, and intended to be slid under the mattress for support. The rail barrier component between the mattress legs is comprised of rigid telescoping poles that may be extended in length. Covering these poles and forming the barrier between them is a flexible fabric cover.
U.S. Pat. No. 329,663, issued to McMurray entitled Safety Attachment for Beds and Berths. This patent describes an early design disclosing a rail system with a pair of legs intended to be slid between the mattress and box spring, and hingedly supporting a rail on the side of the bed. The system includes a lower section that adds to the stability of the rail by insertion into a lower side support rail of the bed frame. A standard set of parallel slats form the rail barrier.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,178,645, issued to Cosme entitled Safety Bed. This patent describes a bed rail system having a pair of support legs inserted between the mattresses of the bed and being distinguished by a fold-down front rail structure. The generally tubular frame provides hinges at each end of the rail system that allow the usually upright rail to be folded down into a fully lowered and flat position against the side of the bed. Suitable locking mechanisms for maintaining the rail in an upright position are described. The complete disengagement of the rail from the leg components is also anticipated.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,776, issued to Huang entitled Collapsible Safeguard Rail Structure. This patent describes an assembly of tubular sections and hinged joints that provide a completely collapsing side rail for a bed. A pair of under-mattress legs is provided at each end, which supports an upright assembly of rail tubes. A midpoint in the rail system is likewise provided with hinged joints, which permit the rail not only to be folded against the mattress legs, but also to fold in half for compact storage.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,745,936, issued to Van McCutchen et al. entitled Safety Bed with Dual Purpose Side Panels. This patent describes an entire bed structure with side panel barriers extending along the entire length of the bed. The barriers are pivotally attached to a side component of the bed along its entire length. The patent anticipates raised, lowered, and intermediate positions for the side panels.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,490, issued to Wu entitled Collapsible Bed Rail Structure. This patent describes yet another collapsible rail system that incorporates a pair of between-mattress legs that are foldable against a generally rectangular rail frame that incorporates a flexible fabric barrier. Joints in the middle of the rectangular frame allow for the frame itself to be folded in half after collapsing the rail against the support legs.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,519,905, issued to Bernstein et al. entitled Bed Side Rails. This patent describes a rigid rail system intended to partially cover the side of a child's bed. Between-mattress legs are hingedly attached to the side rail in a manner that permits the complete lowering of the side rail from an upright position to a lowered and flat against the bed position when the rail is not in use. The rail itself comprises a rigid structure that is generally not collapsible or variable in length or height.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,277, issued to Sundberg et al. entitled Collapsible Bed Side Rail. This patent describes a generally rigid set of components intended to be attached together (as opposed to being hingedly folded) to form a side rail with between-mattress support legs. The rail barrier itself divides into two sections which compactly integrate the leg and support systems into a single compact storage unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,134,731, issued to Thom et al. entitled Adjustable Support Apparatus. This patent describes a partial wall rail barrier for a bed. The rail is intended primarily for older individuals, and provides a handle structure to be grasped by the person in bed in order to assist with lifting themselves to an upright position.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,490, issued to Cardinale entitled Bed Safety Guard. This patent is directed primarily to the between-mattress support structures and describes a system whereby the between-mattress legs extend entirely across the mattress to an attachment point on the opposite side of the bed. This arrangement is intended to provide improved support that prevents the rail from being dislodged or pushed away from the bed by the occupant.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,726 issued to Fichner-Rathus entitled Safety Rail for Sleeping Beds. This patent likewise describes a side rail system with between-mattress legs that extend completely across the mattress to an opposite side of the bed. Adjustments to both the cross mattress components and the side bed components allow for a tight fit on a variety of mattress structures. The rail itself is described as a rectangular frame with a mesh or fabric barrier.
While many attempts have been made in the past to provide removable rail systems, some of which are foldable into a lowered position, few if any of the devices provide for the needs of the intermediate aged child that is still young enough to utilize a crib as a sleeping environment, and yet active and mobile enough to be able to enter and exit the crib on their own. Rails currently available for retail purchase are typically either too short or too long to completely enclose a crib mattress. Those that are too short are intended to allow the child access to and from the crib when awake, but then leave the opening for the child to fall from while sleeping. Those that are too long cannot be safely used with cribs because the under-mattress support legs do not appropriately engage the mattress and are therefore not stable. In general, these rails do not permit the child to safely enter or exit the crib. The two goals of (1) providing a safe sleeping environment and (2) providing an accessible sleeping environment for the young, but active child, are simply not met by any system described in the prior art. It would be desirable therefore to have a removable rail system that positions a rail of adequate height on the side of a mattress so as to prevent a child from rolling from the crib during sleep, while at the same time providing a mechanism or component that allows the child to “scale” the rail from the outside of the crib so as to enter the crib to sleep. It would further be desirable for such a system to be safely attachable to or removable from the crib frame, and yet rigid enough upon attachment to be climbed upon by the child.